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A company’s trademarks, whether in the company’s name, or likeness, or in that of its products, are crucial to protecting the goodwill generated through its investment in people and capital. It is significant to its brand, as it helps identify and protect the integrity of a brand, and ensures that the company distinguishes itself from its competitors. The trademark also readily informs the consumer that the goods or services are of a certain quality or standard. The goodwill derived from a strong trademark can improve business by giving the consumer a positive impression about the product and doing business with the company itself.

Trademark rights arise from actual use of a name, logo or symbol in the marketplace. There are several actions that a company can take in order to protect its trademark portfolio, namely its registered trademarks, service marks, unregistered trademarks, domain names and corresponding copyrights.

A first suggestion is to develop a strategy to determine which marks are important, and how, where and when the trademark rights are to be asserted. This action includes determining which legal jurisdictions are important from a business and marketing perspective. Once a trademark attorney has conducted the necessary trademark searches and cleared a proposed mark, it is advisable to rapidly file for a federal trademark registration. The timing of an application for registration is also critical because typically the first to file takes priority over subsequent filings in respect of identical or similar marks. Once the proposed mark is registered, it is important to note the registration date and the renewal date in order to ensure continuous protection of the mark.

Another action relates to trademark usage. In managing a trademark portfolio, it is important to ensure that rights do not lapse due to non-use of the mark. Depending on the relevant jurisdiction, the ownership rights to a mark may lapse if the mark has not been used for a period of three to five years. It is important to implement programs based on a competent attorney’s advice to ensure continued use, or at least a seasonal or rotational use of marks to prevent cancellation or revocation of them. It is also advisable to ensure correct usage of the marks because they can lose their distinctiveness and value if they become eroded.

A recommended strategy to maximize the value of a trademark portfolio is to be vigilant and to take swift action to prevent infringement or deal with it accordingly when it is detected. The owner of a trademark portfolio must be prepared to take action to preserve rights by employing both defensive and offensive strategies. Defensive strategies, including marking the products with TM, SM and ® symbols can help reduce legal fees and establish legal damages through fair warning to would-be infringers. Defensive tactics also include conducting consistent surveillance of the market place and the competitors’ activities, and educating the consumer on how to identify genuine products as well as alerting them of infringing products.

Numerous offensive strategies are advisable as well. For instance, a company can appeal or oppose the registration of marks that are identical or confusingly similar to its own marks. It is also advisable to issue cease and desist letters, or publish warnings when infringement is detected.

In taking these actions, it is advisable to seek the best legal consultation regarding the management of the trademark portfolio, itself, as well as determining the instances and nature of potential infringement. Leading trademark counsel are also effective advocates that can provide advice and counsel on how to deal with infringement, through amicable resolution or an enforcement action if necessary.

Therefore, choosing the best law firm that is qualified to provide sound legal advice on trademark and copyrights related matters is a critical issue for any business venture. Good advice can mean a strong brand in the marketplace that serves to protect capital investment and deter infringement by competitors. The alternative is erosion of goodwill with customers, and easy infringement. The latter may mean loss a fortune in human and financial.

Online businesses are becoming very popular. Everyone is looking for self employment opportunities that involve minimal or zero investment. If you do not want to obtain an office or make an investment in a company; you can become an affiliate to earn commissions. You do not need to have your own products or services; all you're doing is promoting someone's product to get paid. You will be known as an independent contractor and you must have skills in sales as well as a people person that is not afraid to get out there and make presentations or attract customers through posted videos and blogs to get the attention that you need for potential sales.

By becoming an affiliate you can start making money while working your regular 9:00 to 5:00 or right from home. An advantage of becoming an affiliate is that your small business is already accredited locally and nationally and consumers are already aware of the products that you are currently selling and how they work. You are simply getting the word out there about a product or service that is already in good standing and that that completely covered with insurance and governmental approval. Testimonies relating to the excellence of the product will already be available for you to use while promoting the product. People may possibly have already heard testimonials about how well the products work and how cost effective they are along with the benefits of them.

A great way to make your presentation known is to create postings, write blogs as well as creating a website to help get your name out there to the public. Obtaining a website to promote your affiliate business can be inexpensive and easy to maintain by using the tutorials that are given. When becoming an affiliate do research on available options in offered by companies; select a company that offers you a great product and a substantial benefit for selling and promoting the product. To be successful as an affiliate you must spend time doing research to choose the right program and maximize your profits. While choosing your program you want to become an affiliate with give thought to the process you will be following to promote the sales of the products. Do not expect high returns on day one. Every business takes time to establish and to earn profits. Do research to promote the right product.

Becoming an affiliate has great perks such as being an accredited affiliate for product or services locally and nationally, promoting a product that has already been known and has possible testimonials, you are able to conduct your own business selling other products and collecting profits and create your own hours. Research the companies that offer the programs that work best with your talent and skills. Create your own schedule and determine to set up the blogs, social networking sites and websites that are needed to attract customers 24-7. An online business is easy to promote and can draw traffic daily when promoted properly. Become an affiliate and create revenue each month; once when you become an affiliate you can quit your day job and work full time from home.

In today's increasingly environmentally-friendly climate, the construction industry has begun to get something of a bad reputation for utilizing materials that are known to be harmful to the planet. The siding industry is no exception. With vinyl being one of the more popular and affordable materials for siding installation, the siding industry is often accused of contributing to the demise of the planet by introducing the modifying chemicals of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) into the atmosphere. Of course, the benefit of PVC is that it is inexpensive and quite easy to work with. But in the eyes of the average environmentalist, the advantages inherent in PVC do not outweigh its destructive impact on the planet.

So which types of siding are the best options as far as the environment is concerned? According to Ruben Jeruco, solid wood is probably the most environmentally-friendly siding material available today. Although wood siding requires a fair degree of maintenance, the fact that it is renewable makes it attractive in the eyes of those who are environmentally-conscious. Fiber cement siding is also known to be a reliably earth-friendly product. Offering the same great look and feel of wood but without the significant maintenance, fiber cement is another good choice for people who do not want to run the risk of destroying the planet.

Although it is quickly becoming a less popular choice among homeowners, aluminum siding is actually regarded as fairly environmentally-friendly. Although its production requires a significant amount of resources, aluminum siding is often made of recycled materials, making it a winner in the eyes of those who think green. Finally, natural stone and classic cement stucco are both regarded as earth-friendly siding options; however, the cost involved in stone and stucco puts both choices out of reach for homeowners with limited budgets.

Of course, despite the fact that vinyl is often regarded as the planet's greatest enemy, vinyl siding might not actually be as ecologically destructive as some might think. Vinyl siding requires far less maintenance than most other types of siding once it's installed, few environmental resources are needed in order to preserve it. Vinyl siding is also said to use little energy as part of its manufacturing process. So while the material itself is definitely not the most earth-friendly, vinyl might not be quite as bad as some people think.

If preserving the environment is important to you, then make sure that your siding contractor is aware of your feelings as he helps you select your siding material. With so many earth-friendly siding choices available, you can improve the exterior of your home without having to choose between conservationism and aesthetics. And while you may pay a bit more for your eco-friendly siding, you'll be rewarded with the peace of mind that comes along with knowing that you're doing your part to preserve our planet for many generations to come.

SDLC or Software Development Life Cycle is essentially the process or phases of a model or methodology, which software engineers and developers follow in developing an application or software. In simpler words, it is a process consisting of a series of planned activities for planning, creating, testing, deploying and maintenance of software.

SDLC is often referred as software development process, as it consists of all tasks, which needs to be followed while developing an application or software. SDLC is followed within IT development companies to develop, alter, replace or enhance the performance of the software. ISO/IEC 12207 is an international standard for SDLC, which ensures high quality of the newly developed software. It also helps IT development companies in improving the overall quality of their software development services.

What are the major SDLC Models, followed in the IT Industry?

There are various SDLS models, which are currently followed in the IT Industry. Often referred as ‘Software Development Process Models’, all the process models follow unique software development steps, ensuring 100% success of the development projects.

The major software development life cycle models are-

Waterfall Model

Iterative Model

Spiral Model

V-Model

Big Bang Model

Other related models are Rapid Application Development (RAD), Prototype and Agile Models.

The advantages of choosing an appropriate Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)-

Increased Product Quality

Increased Development Speed

Improved Client Relations

Improved Tracking & Control

Decreased Project Risks

Decreased Project Management Overhead

What are the different stages of SDLC?

Stage 1:

Planning and Requirement Analysis

This is the most important stage in the SDLC. This stage needs input from the customers, sales team, industry experts, a marketing team and their survey reports. After which, senior business managers and developers of a software development company plan the project approach and the development model.

Stage 2:

Designing

After the analysis of requirements and finalizing the Design Document Specification (DDS), the product architecture is designed by an expert team. This architecture has to stand upon various parameters such as budget, time, product robustness, risk assessment and design modularity, after which it is considered for the development.

Stage 3:

Development

The actual development of the software or application starts at this stage. The team of engineers and developers follow the coding guidelines set by the organization and use different tools for code generation. The programming code is generated as per the details documented in the DDS. The developers use different high level programming languages as per the requirement.

Stage 4:

Testing

In this stage, the final product goes through a pre-defined road of testing, where defects or bugs in the product are reported and then fixed by the developers. This stage ensures that the final product meets the highest quality standards, which are accepted worldwide.

Stage 5:

Deployment

At this stage, the final product is deployed at the client base. At times, the software is integrated with the client’s current application and database. All the deployment and integration works are done under the guidance of expert software engineers and developers.

Stage 6:

Maintenance & Support

Most of the reputed IT development companies also provide complete maintenance and technical support, post deployment of the final product at client base.